Holy Roman Empire, German Heiliges Römisches Reich, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium,
the varying complex of lands in western and central Europe ruled over first by Frankish and then by German kings for 10 centuries, from Charlemagne’s coronation in 800 until the renunciation of the imperial title in 1806. (For histories of the territories governed at various times by the empire, seeFrance; Germany; Italy.)

Nature of the empire

The precise term Sacrum Romanum Imperium dates only from 1254, though the term Holy Empire reaches back to 1157, and the term Roman Empire was used from ... (100 of 7,662 words)